20 March 2012

idealism: the practice of pursuing something desirable or perfect but not likely to become a reality

Adjusting it’s stride with an excellent tailwind of morality, the ever-present-for-each-generation black horse, under-dog for idealism, carries the teenager, the twenty-something-thirty-something (it is possible the forty-something here and there) forward with a cause, an injustice, a wrong that needs to be righted. Everything seems so clear, the formula for success just ahead, almost tangible, like the smell of the ocean in an early morning fog.

For the youngest of the riders, they know nothing of the hurdles yet to be jumped nor how many others have attempted the journey with mixed results. Possibilities shine brightest for them, so glittering they don’t see the skeletons in the distance of past riders nor the threatening shadows. As time passes for the riders, knowledge that the wheels of justice are at times bogged down in sludge and the rules are misrepresented by self-serving politicians, becomes a millstone, slowly grinding away at the energy, the heart.

So you want to know?...

My daughter calls me "the crazy lady who talks to strangers". It may be so, but I don't always start the conversation...well, mostly I do, but if you spent huge quantities of time with elementary students every day, you would too.